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Fake TV news has long been entertainment

The Newsroom creator Aaron Sorkin, center, was a big fan of newspaper dramas Lou Grant and All the President’s Men, but he’s setting his sights on cable news in his first HBO series. USA TODAY’s Jayme Deerwester offers this montage of previous peeks behind the camera in TV and films.

The angle: Grizzled news producer Lou Grant (Ed Asner) hires career girl Mary Richards (Moore) to help produce the 6 p.m. newscast. In 1977, Grant got an eponymous spinoff, in which he became city editor at the Los Angeles Tribune.

Sample soundbite: Baxter blows his own mind: “It’s actually tomorrow in Tokyo. Do you realize that there are people alive here in Minneapolis who are already dead in Tokyo?”

The angle: When Universal Broadcast System tries to force a veteran anchorman’s retirement, he threatens to commit suicide on his last show. The network is torn: Fire him immediately or take advantage of his on-air death?

The anchor: Instead of killing himself, Howard Beale (Peter Finch) uses his bully pulpit to comment on the sorry state of TV news.

Sample soundbite: Beale famously advises viewers to “Go to the window and shout as loud as you can: ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’”

The angle: High-strung D.C. producer Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) finds herself in a love triangle with a handsome but lightweight anchor and a talented reporter who lacks the looks to advance in television.

The anchor: Tom Grunick (William Hurt) has the charisma needed to become a TV news star, but not the gravitas. Even he admits he’s in over his head.

Sample soundbite: Dan, teasing one night's story lineup: “We’ll bring you the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and because we’ve got soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of a zero-zero tie.”

The angle: In 1975, the men at Channel 4 Evening News feel threatened when the station gets its first female reporter, ambitious Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate).

The anchor: Mustachioed Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), who relies on the teleprompter and spends his free time doting on his dog, Baxter.

Sample soundbite: “Stay classy, San Diego.” — Burgundy’s signature signoff, which he’ll probably use again in a planned sequel, expected next year.